RP pushes non-Guimaras grown mango exports to US

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) will conduct a study to determine if Philippine mangoes other than those grown on Guimaras Island in Western Visayas may be allowed to enter the US market.

Salvador Salacup, director of the Department of Agriculture (DA) agricultural marketing assistance service, said the USDA asked recently the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) to submit a list for pest risk analysis (PRA).

"The results of the PRA will be the basis for which US quarantine authorities will approve or deny the Philippines’ request to also allow mango producers outside of Guimaras Island to export the tropical fruit to the US," Salacup said.

Representatives of the USDA, the BPI, the Philippine Nuclear Research Institute and the Food Development Center met recently to consolidate priorities regarding the irradiation process on mango that is being required by US quarantine authorities.

"Based on recommendations of experts on irradiation, they will be assessing the quality of mangoes irradiated at the standard maximum tolerable level," Salacup said. This will require a budget of at least P326,500.

Another activity to be carried out is the establishment of a so-called irradiation dose for quarantine treatment of two species of fruit fly – b. occipitalis and philippinensis. The required budget is P1.016 billion.

The BPI will also have to put up a P4.71-million facility to study the effect of gamma irradiation on mango pulp weevil.

The Philippines has been asking the US to also allow the shipment of mango produced in areas outside the quarantined and certified disease-free island of Guimaras.

By next month, the Philippines will resume exports of fresh Guimaras mango to the US after the local government of Guimaras bankrolled the cost of bringing American quarantine exporters to the island that will asses the shipment bound for the US.

Exports of mangoes from Guimaras Island off the coast of Iloilo were suspended last year after a trial shipment in 2002 to allow the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to carry out quarantine procedures in the Philippines.

Under a USDA-Philippine Cooperative Service Agreement signed in 2002, the country is required to deposit at least $51,170 to the USDA Trust Fund to pay for the cost of bringing USDA quarantine inspectors to Guimaras.

Roberto C. Amores, president of Hi-las Marketing Corp., a member of the Philippine Mango Exporters Foundation Inc., said the DA promised to shoulder at least $40,000. The exporters said they advanced the initial amount required but up to now they have not been reimbursed of their expenses.

"Since this is a developing business, we need government to support the industry in its efforts to find new markets," said Amores.

Agriculture Secretary Luis Lorenzo Jr. said the government was able to raise money to bring in inspectors from the USDA to check the quality of mangoes from Guimaras before the fruits are allowed to enter the US market.

He said the amount raised was equivalent to half the cost of travel and other incidental expenses which two US inspectors will incur during their stay in the Philippines to check its mango production and processing facilities.